Vasks Pater Noster; Dona nobis pacem; Missa
Beautifully performed, a rare outing for Vasks’s choral music
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Peteris Vasks
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Ondine
Magazine Review Date: 13/2007
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 58
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: ODE1106-2

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Pater Noster |
Peteris Vasks, Composer
Latvian Radio Choir Peteris Vasks, Composer Riga Sinfonietta Sigvards Klava, Conductor |
Dona nobis pacem |
Peteris Vasks, Composer
Latvian Radio Choir Peteris Vasks, Composer Riga Sinfonietta Sigvards Klava, Conductor |
Missa |
Peteris Vasks, Composer
Latvian Radio Choir Peteris Vasks, Composer Riga Sinfonietta Sigvards Klava, Conductor |
Author: Guy Rickards
In the booklet interview, Peteris Vasks notes that during the Soviet rule in Latvia composition of sacred choral music was heavily discouraged. Personal necessity as well, it seems, also put him off writing the Pater noster his Protestant minister father kept asking for. Instrumental music was of greater importance.
When he did write a Pater noster (1991), it was in a simpler, more consonant style than much of his earlier work, expressively close to the “holy minimalism” common to a number of Baltic composers, but Vasks’s triadic style – which he feels essential for sacred music – shares little with them. A short, peaceful meditation, it is reverentially performed by the Latvian Radio Choir. So, too, is Dona nobis pacem (1996), inhabiting the same evocative sound world. Trouble is, where Pater noster says what it needs to in under seven minutes, Dona nobis pacem says half as much in more than twice the time. Despite being beautifully sung and played, I found it unmoving.
The Missa (2000, rev 2000-05) is a different matter. True, the expressive idiom is the same, but Vasks here invests his ideas in more musically satisfying forms. The use of string orchestral accompaniment reminded me in places, the Sanctus especially, of English music and sounds a touch like what I imagine an early Mass setting by Tippett might have sounded like. There are sympathetic echoes (no doubt coincidental) of Howells in the Benedictus and overlong Agnus Dei, too. Despite what the back cover states, none of the set texts is included.
When he did write a Pater noster (1991), it was in a simpler, more consonant style than much of his earlier work, expressively close to the “holy minimalism” common to a number of Baltic composers, but Vasks’s triadic style – which he feels essential for sacred music – shares little with them. A short, peaceful meditation, it is reverentially performed by the Latvian Radio Choir. So, too, is Dona nobis pacem (1996), inhabiting the same evocative sound world. Trouble is, where Pater noster says what it needs to in under seven minutes, Dona nobis pacem says half as much in more than twice the time. Despite being beautifully sung and played, I found it unmoving.
The Missa (2000, rev 2000-05) is a different matter. True, the expressive idiom is the same, but Vasks here invests his ideas in more musically satisfying forms. The use of string orchestral accompaniment reminded me in places, the Sanctus especially, of English music and sounds a touch like what I imagine an early Mass setting by Tippett might have sounded like. There are sympathetic echoes (no doubt coincidental) of Howells in the Benedictus and overlong Agnus Dei, too. Despite what the back cover states, none of the set texts is included.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.

Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.